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CARLYLE versus DARWIN.

Sir,—I have just seen your number of the 9th inst., and find that one of your correspondents persists (in spite of the contradiction that was inserted in the Times) in attributing to Mr. Carlyle a letter about Darwinism extracted from a Scotch paper. [Ardrossan and Salicoats Herald]

Allow me to say distinctly, on Mr. Carlyle's own authority, that the letter is a forgery, and that Mr. Carlyle has been greatly annoyed by the persistence with which it has been attributed to him.

Mr. Carlyle, as is well known to all his friends, is not a believer in the theory of Mr. Darwin, but that is no reason for attributing a letter which he never wrote, and expressions about an old friend which he never would have uttered.

Your obedient servant,

The Athenaeum, Feb. 12. W. E. H. LECKY.

[William Edward Hartpole Lecky, 1838-1903. an Anglo-Irish historian and essayist of classic Whig proclivities.]

(We have no doubt that our excellent correspondent the Rev. F. O. Morris would concur with us in fully accepting Mr. Lecky's assurance that the letter which was originally copied by the Times from the

[in Darwin's hand:] Record Feb. 14—1877